If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Just early notice that our "AT HOME" 2-DAY ROHATSU RETREAT is scheduled for the weekend of December 8th & 9th, Saturday and Sunday (Japan Time) via live netcast. We hope that all of our Ango-ers and others will find a way to sit with us. Through a combination of live and "any time" recorded segments, the retreat is designed to be sat any where, in any time zone, even days or weeks later, when you can arrange your schedule. Please have a look at last year's retreat for a taste ...

I (Jundo) will lead the Saturday portion, and Taigu on Sunday. The retreat was originally scheduled for the weekend of December 1st, but I was asked to be Santa Clause again this year by three places, a local Christian Church, the YMCA and a home for the disabled that day (yes, they pick me because I am a rather round jolly fellow with a beard! ), and so would not be available for several hours. For that reason, I hope all are in accord with the date change and helping Santa! It also means that the retreat will be held a few days after the "90 days" of Ango end, but ... perhaps if you missed a few days, you will extend your Ango a bit.

Our retreat features all aspects of a traditional Soto Zen retreat, including Zazen, Oryoki (in simplified form), more Zazen, Chanting, Samu work practice, more Zazen, talks and much more. Did I mention ... more Zazen? Easy to follow preparations and instructions will be provided everyone in the coming weeks for establishing a retreat space in your own home, and in keeping with other responsibilities you may have (such as a "mom" or "dad").

If you are concerned about the length of sitting, please take to heart that such retreats ... of 2 or 3 days, a week or two weeks ... are basic and highly recommended in the Zen world, undertaken by just about every Zen Sangha I know. It is a practice not to be missed.

I thought I had imagined the retreat was the week before because that's what I had on the calendar! It's ironic because it was going to be the first year the retreat was not the weekend closest to my wife's birthday (the 7th...yes, the day of infamy). But she truly does not mind at all because I don't think she'd trade how practice has benefitted me, her, and our boys for anything in the world.

I'll be there.

Gassho,
Dosho

Ordained Priest -In-TrainingPlease take what I say with a grain of salt,
especially in matters of the Dharma!

I'd just like to share a response to a discussion elsewhere about sharing practice with others.. and the benefit of group energy. A person new to Zen wanted to hear from people why they felt it helped ..

There is a story that before his awakening the Buddha placed a bowl in a stream and said "If I am to succeed in becoming a Buddha today, let this bowl go upstream, if not, let it go downstream.". One way of looking at that story is that Buddhist practice goes against the current of deeply ingrained habit. Sitting can be great at first.. especially if it is in a traditional Zen setting. It feels good to be a part of something new, and to be into something profound. But eventually the bloom comes off the rose, and I am just sitting there on a cushion thinking the person who keeps time and rings the bell has fallen asleep. There is no inspiration, nothing interesting..only restlessness, and wanting the moment to be and feel other than it is. Maybe that is the beginning of actual practice? ....after the infatuation, but it is also the time when I would rather do anything but sit there and get nothing. Sangha, structure, shoulder to shoulder discipline, keeps me on the cushion past the point when every inclination of habit is to get up and follow the need for distraction, or entertainment, or comfort, or inspiration.. or.. anything but sitting on that cushion and getting nothing.

So true, Kojip. When the ego starts protesting "I'm bored, I want more, I want to be pleasured and entertained, I want a quick fix, I want ... I want ... I ... I ... I ... " that is when actual Practice begins. Unfortunately, that is also the exact moment so many newcomers to Zen head right for the door ... seeking the next shiny thing that promises a quick dose of pleasure and spiritual entertainment!

I am sometimes asked "if each moment is all time and space, what is the purpose of an intensive Sesshin?" Well, I often say that, sometimes, we need to practice a bit long and hard, morning to night ... sitting and wrestling with 'me, my self and I' ... all to achieve nothing to attain! Going to Retreats, Sesshin and such is a powerful facet of this Practice and not to be missed.

Taigu and I strongly encourage folks ... if you can find the time ... to go for retreats for a weekend, but better a few days or full Sesshin (even a full week or two if you can) at "under a roof" wood and brick places, and "traditional" (i.e., very Japanese style) retreats and Sesshin are good experiences. There are several good places to experience that in North America and Europe. But if you cannot access one of those, we have our online Retreat here coming as close as we can to the experience.

Unfortunately, that is also the exact moment so many newcomers to Zen head right for the door ... seeking the next shiny thing that promises a quick dose of pleasure and spiritual entertainment!

Buddhism is the Middle Way ... not an ascetic practice of intentional physical abuse and extreme denial, not a practice of extreme pleasure and hedonism. However, life sometimes is hard, not as we wish it to be.

So, one of the greatest revelations in my life came during the 3rd or 4th day of a 10 day Sesshin at a strict Japanese monastery. Basically, I hate Sesshin ... they take me away from my family, my life, my favorite tv shows! I hate to get up in the morning at 4am in the winter, I hate to wash floors, I hate that my legs hurt sometimes! I hate the boredom of the silence, without even a book or other things to read.

But it was on the 3rd or 4th day of a Sesshin that I found an inner switch, a button to push in my own mind, where I could instantly turn "I hate sitting and the food, this is yuck!" into "this is very peaceful, this is alright, this is fine here." (The reason I describe it as a switch is that, when found, one can even play with it ... jumping back and forth between "yuck" and "alright" as if at a flip.). Now, I flip that switch many many times in life ... in all the unpleasant situations of life, great and small (most recently, just yesterday, during one of my least favorite and rather painful parts of my annual "where the sun don't shine" health check! ) The "I ... I ... I" gets very small, sometimes drops away. (One might say that the sun shines even when the sun don't shine! )

Now, our 2-day retreat is short but, sometime in that 2 days ... in a quiet, still room without entertainment ... folks are going to hit the "boring" or "I want to be elsewhere" or "my leg hurts" or "I don't like this" moment ...

... and I hope they find the switch. That is one reason, among many, for retreat.

Unfortunately, that is also the exact moment so many newcomers to Zen head right for the door ... seeking the next shiny thing that promises a quick dose of pleasure and spiritual entertainment!

Buddhism is the Middle Way ... not an ascetic practice of intentional physical abuse and extreme denial, not a practice of extreme pleasure and hedonism. However, life sometimes is hard, not as we wish it to be.

So, one of the greatest revelations in my life came during the 3rd or 4th day of a 10 day Sesshin at Japanese monastery. Basically, I hate Sesshin ... they take me away from my family, my life, my favorite tv shows! I hate to get up in the morning at 4am in the winter, I hate to wash floors, I hate that my legs hurt sometimes! I hate the boredom of the silence, without even a book or other things to read.

But it was on the 3rd or 4th day of a Sesshin that I found an inner switch, a button to push in my own mind, where I could instantly turn "I hate sitting and the food, this is yuck!" into "this is very peaceful, this is alright, this is fine here." (The reason I describe it as a switch is that, when found, one can even play with it ... jumping back and forth between "yuck" and "alright" as if at a flip.). Now, I flip that switch many many times in life ... in all the unpleasant situations of life, great and small (most recently, just yesterday, during one of my least favorite and rather painful parts of my annual "where the sun don't shine" health check! ) The "I ... I ... I" gets very small, sometimes drops away.

Now, our 2-day retreat is short but, sometime in that 2 days ... in a quiet, still room without entertainment ... folks are going to hit the "boring" or "I want to be elsewhere" or "my leg hurts" or "I don't like this" moment ...

... and I hope they find the switch.

Gassho, J

Thank you Jundo ... I hope the switch presents itself.

Gassho
Michael

RINDO SHINGEN
倫道 真現

As a trainee priest, please take any commentary by me on matters of the Dharma with a pinch of salt.

Hi,
I'd love to book myself into a hotel with my robes, oryoki set, computer and WiFi access for the two days and sit live throughout the night. However, that will not be possible ... so I'll be sitting this retreat in four sections spanning two weekends. I will be unable to sit live. I wish it were otherwise.

Gassho, Shawn Jakudo Hinton
It all begins when we say, “I”. Everything that follows is illusion.
"Even to speak the word Buddha is dragging in the mud soaking wet; Even to say the word Zen is a total embarrassment."
寂道

I have (musical) Santa duties on the 8th and 9th, so was looking forward to the earlier dates, too.
Will try to start with you live on the 8th (7th here) and continue the following weekend. My ango started a week late, anyway.

On Saturday the 8th I will be sitting locally at Great River, and will then join you on Sunday the 9th..... looking forward to it....

Gassho
Yugen

-----------------------------------------------------------
Please take all my comments with a grain of salt - I am a novice priest and anything I say is to be taken with a good dose of skepticism - Shodo Yugen

Nenka, though there are oriyoki sets that fit the definition of the word, aren't they all "makeshift"?

Ha! Yeah. But every time I think about getting a "real" set, I realize that I'd miss my Pyrex bowl, grapefruit bowl (that looks like an actual grapefruit), condiment jar "tea cup", and pillow case. Robert Aitken once said something about using a bowl and wooden spoon as a "bell" when he first started out, and that always resonated with me: using what you have with sincerity. I just look forward to using this set with the annual retreat.